Differences may work against naturalization of bedoun in ’13 Tameemi postpones grilling request against oil minister

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 8: There is fear that naturalization of bedoun this year will not be possible due to the differences between the government and the Parliament on the number of bedoun who deserve to be naturalized.

This difference became clear last Thursday during a special session when the Parliament passed a bill to naturalize 4,000 bedoun in its first reading as opposed to the government draft law which proposed naturalizing only 2,000 this year. This difference led to the failure to pass the bill in its second reading and was therefore returned for more amendments.

In this regard, reliable sources disclosed the government has advised members of the National Assembly not to reject the draft law to naturalize 2,000 bedoun this year and that the members should refrain from insisting on increasing the number to 4,000 because this will never happen since the government has plans to vote against the draft bill when it is submitted again two weeks later.

The sources said the government will inform the Interior and Defense Committee to include in its report before discussing the law in its second deliberation that its proposals on naturalizing the 2,000 bedoun is in consistency with studied policies that move in line with other proposals on granting permanent residency when the real identity of bedoun are discovered and their statues are corrected especially since a majority of them do not meet the conditions for naturalization.

According to the sources, the government has explained to the MPs that this draft law was originally proposed by it to naturalize only 2,000 bedoun but if they insist on their demand, the government will reject it and this will create another delay in the naturalization process.

MP Mishari Al-Husseini has stressed the draft law of naturalizing 4,000 bedoun that was passed by the Parliament in its first deliberation will not be accepted saying he and other colleagues will demand an amendment to the draft law to include other Gulf people who lived and earned bread in Kuwait as well as bedoun who hold other passports.

Unfair
He pointed out the draft law in its current version is unfair and unacceptable and “we will work to amend it for the sake of other groups.”

For his part, MP Abdul-Hameed Dashti said he has reservation on the law of naturalizing 4,000 bedoun and that he sees the need to naturalize 34,000 bedoun “whom the government itself had said deserve the Kuwaiti nationality.”

He said some of the lawmakers also have reservations on the law because it does not include the bedoun whose statuses were corrected under the pressure of fake passports. He added, “These people should be taken into consideration especially they have proved that the passports were fake.”
MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan criticized the government stance in dealing with the law of naturalizing bedoun. He stressed, the government has taken a ‘bad approach’ in dealing with the law “which indicates the government is doing the opposite of what it says.”

The government behavior, he stressed, towards the law sends a negative message to the free society — the society which wants to see this issue solved. Al-Duwaisan urged the government to amend the draft law in favor of the bedoun.

On another issue, MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi explained the grilling request he and his colleague MP Saadoun Al-Hamad plan to file against minister of oil has been postponed to next March for it to be discussed during a separate session instead of in one session with the grilling of MP Hussein Al-Qallaf which will take place during this month against Minister of Communications Salem Al-Utheina.

Al-Tameemi noted the oil minister’s grilling contains important issues “and we cannot allow the minister to have fun and continue committing violations without holding him to account.”

He added, the minister has not taken any action to stop the waste of money - the $250,000 daily penalty due to the cancellation of the Dow Chemical contract.